


Below the Prose

by voleuse



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-25
Updated: 2007-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-04 03:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Footnotes one must magnify to read.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Below the Prose

**Author's Note:**

> Set between the first and second movies. Title and summary adapted from Miriam O'Neal's _Anniversary_.

Will wasn't very sure how Elizabeth drew him into this evening's soiree. He was fairly sure it had something to do with the way her fingers traced over his wrist, two weeks ago when she asked him. A smile had curved over her lips, and he had said yes before he fully absorbed the question.

There were times, he thought, that he was entirely too enamored with his betrothed.

He told her so, when she finally found him in his chosen sanctuary, the kitchen. He had loosened the collar of his shirt, and he'd been considering, wistfully, the times when he was expected to dine with the servants, should he happen to have been invited for a meal.

Elizabeth giggled at his mournful observations, and dragged him back into society's claws.

*

 

Luckily, Elizabeth took pity on him, shepherding him across the floor, introducing him to only the most kindly of gentlemen, and steering him past the sharp-eyed women that prompted his original exodus.

Even across the room, he could feel their gazes, dissecting him like a shoulder of beef.

Elizabeth's hand ghosted over his elbow, and she introduced him to a retired admiral. Will managed to compliment the man's sword, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the admiral launched into the topic with glee.

*

 

The next morning, Elizabeth arrived at the market, scandalized maid in tow. After an obligatory and half-sincere lecture on propriety, in which he was, sadly, better versed, Will relented to Elizabeth's scowl and allowed her to tow him from one stall to the next.

It was, actually, quite educational, as he knew how the market worked, but she understood where everything originated.

The chaos, however, startled her at times, and at one point, as fish and bananas flew through the air--a coincidental pairing, but odd nonetheless--he placed a hand firmly on her elbow, and she relaxed against him.

By noon, all three of them carried baskets full of produce, and Elizabeth and her maid debated the evening's meal with passion.

There, in that moment under the warm sun, Will realized: This would be his life.

And he caught Elizabeth about the waist and kissed her, not minding the maid's baleful stare.


End file.
